Nolan: nine months old

Nolan's eighth month flew by, and not just because February only had 29 days, but because of all the milestones he hit and the visitors we enjoyed.


Nolan is growing like a weed, unfortunately, the very dangerous and contagious Norovirus hit all four of us a few weeks ago and poor baby lost 2lbs! Nolan was 17lbs8oz at his seven month well-baby exam on January 13th and was only back up to 16lbs 7oz when we took him in for the second half of his flu booster on February 14th and it's evident in how baggy his nine month clothes are and how easily he still fits into his size 3 Pampers Swaddlers diapers. I bet his 6-9mo clothes will get a ton of wear as they are swallowing him right now! He's still in his infant car seat and is now wearing his new 12-24mo Skater Van's socks, some times under his new shoes.


Nolan loves to eat and he seems to enjoy it so much more now that I've put his chair in the dining room and he can eat next to Emily. Oatmeal, butternut squash, pears, and sweet potatoes are his favorites but he seems to enjoy just about anything you offer him. I really love the Plum Organics combinations and though weird, Nolan gobbles them up. Recently he's had a Pea/spinach/pear, Pumpkin/apple, and Carrot/blueberry/apple. He can self feed, his pincer grasp is really great and he brings food right to his mouth but when I have offered Puffs and yogurt melts he gags! His eyes water, he starts drooling & hacking, and he swats them off his tray. He doesn't seem ready to move on beyond purees just yet. :) He has started drinking water out of Nuby sippy and seems to really enjoy it. He also really likes sucking on ice cubes in a mesh feeder and grabbing onto the spoon to feed himself.


 

I'm still breastfeeding, about every three to four hours so, only three to four times a day. It's going so well! Such a great experience all around, I'm so thankful for how much joy it has brought to us both and I really have no idea when he'll begin to wean though I suspect it will be closer to his first birthday or whenever it is that he can have whole cow's milk.


Nolan is still consistently sleeping through the night 11-12 hours in his mini-crib that is in our bedroom. We just lowered the mattress as low as it would go because Nolan can pull all the way up to standing and likes to practice this skill at nap time. He sleeps on his tummy with his knees drawn up tucked under him just like Emily did. He seems to have mastered the morning nap this last month, going down after being awake about two hours and napping about 1.5 hours. Just in the last couple of days he's started to develop an afternoon nap, after being awake about three hours. The afternoon nap is only lasting about 30-45 minutes but should eventually lengthen to around 1.5-2 hours. After waking from his afternoon nap, Nolan is awake about four hours before bedtime. I clearly remember Emily being on this 2-3-4 sleep schedule and how predictable life was at that time and I'm so excited to see some consistency coming to life now with Nolan.

A typical day for Nolan:
6:45am - Wake up. David gets him up, changed, and brings him down for breakfast
7:00am - Breakfast: 7oz of oatmeal with roasted applesauce then, play time with Emily before she goes to school
8:00am - I nurse Nolan
9-10:30am - Nap
11:00am - Lunch: 4oz vegetable and 2-3oz fruit
12:00pm - I nurse Nolan then, we head out for errands, play dates, activities or to Edison to volunteer in Emily's classroom
1:30-2:30pm - Nap
3:00pm - I nurse Nolan then, we head out for errands, play dates, activities, a walk to the park, or we just play here at home
5:00pm - Dinner: 6oz protein/vegetables/fruit
5:30pm - Bath, PJs, lotion massage
6:00pm - I nurse Nolan before bed
6:45pm - Bedtime

Nolan is so active now that he's on the move. Yes, he's full-on crawling and pulling up on toy bins, tables, and the couch! He will play in his exersaucer and his jumperoo though his interest is waning, he's much happier crawling from toy to toy, chasing the cat, following Emily around, and trying to grab anything he can reach up on the furniture. I'm so happy we saved all of Emily's soft blocks, Peek-a-Boo blocks, and Fisher Price Little People as they are just perfect for him at this age. He gravitates towards shoe laces, rubber bands, cords, threads, and just about anything else you can think of that's off-limits. Typical. He's also happy to get in his car seat and go on errands and walks and he likes to be worn in the Bjorn and Ergo. He really enjoys splashing around in the tub during bath time though it's a whole lot more work for me now that he wants to crawl and pull up to standing at the faucet. He's even making some noise around here with a little babbling and a few laughs! David caught his first real, full-blown laugh on camera. 





  

He loves being tickled, especially when you blow raspberries on his rib cage and neck, playing peek-a-boo, and when you make monkey sounds at him. Emily even calls him "little monkey-moo" as a nickname these days. And he's started "dancing" a bit; when standing at his musical table he'll bend his knees and bounce and he'll rock back and forth when sitting on the floor when we have Pandora playing.

We think Nolan might be trying to wave "bye bye" at us, too! We wave at him and say "bye bye" several times a day and in the last two days we've seen him wave his arm in response to us doing it. We'll have to watch that one to see if that's what is really happening. It's cute either way.

I thought Nolan might be ready to sit up in a shopping cart but he was slipping and sliding all over the place, much more interested in pulling his toes up to his mouth, but I'll try again this month!


Nolan has his bottom two center teeth with no new teeth that we can see or feel but his behavior the last few days has led us to believe he's cutting teeth that we might find in the coming weeks.

Little man may be needing a trim soon, his spiky blond hair is bordering on out of control. He has the same cowl-lick that David has and is hair is very coarse in texture and straight so, no matter how much water you put on it to lay it down, it sticks straight up.


Nolan is Emily's biggest fan. He watches her, babbles at her, reaches for her (she can hold him herself now!), looks for her when he hears her voice, and he only ever really gives up the smiles and giggles for her though just about any female talking to him gets flashed a smile these days. He's quite the little charmer! ;)


Determined, strong, quiet, calm, gentle, snugly, happy, observant, curious little baby boy. We sure do love our little Nolan Sean!

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